My buddy called with an 039 for $100. Of course I said I'll take it. Because who needs an excuse for more guns, saws, and fishing poles. He said he thinks it needs rings, piston, or carb build or all of the above. Never had or ran one, what are opinions out there? Worth putting a little money into?
Not a terrible homeowner's saw. My dad has an 029Super (smaller, but same series) that, while not a great saw, can get the job done... not the easiest style to work on but there's plenty of AM parts out there to save money. Does it run now? If it's acting up don't run it... try to find the problem and replace all rubber parts (in addition to the piston/rings, carb issues). If you go for it find an 1127 series manual (039/390 is what you'll have) and check out build posts around the web. I'd try to stay under that $200 mark on this saw.
Hard to say without seeing the saw - depends on how the rest of the saw checks out. I liked my 039 - was a good runner and cut fine. For $100 bucks, you probably can't lose if it's in decent shape - you could turn it around for parts and make a little money. P.S. if you rebuild, but sure to figure out what toasted the top end in the first place. Good luck and pics if it happens! Cheers!
Thanks for the advice. I have 2 50cc saws, ms 260 pro and husky 350, plus a 372xp. So a 60cc saw might be nice to have too. I've spent more than $100 on worse things. Thanks
The 1127 series Stihls get quite a beatdown on the various saw related forums, but a lot of that simply stems from the fact that they aren't a Pro model saw. A lot of complaints revolve around power-to-weight and that they aren't the easiest to work on. Fact is, it's a homeowner grade chainsaw and very few of those are modeled around power-to-weight. That said, since you've got the largest pony in the 1127 stable you've reduced the power-to-weight complaint. Are other saws easier to work on? Yes. Are the 1127 series a rubix cube? No. Like most things in life it's all a matter of what you get used to. I've rebuilt of ton of those saws and I can do a full takedown & rebuild with new rings or top end, or whatever in less than 90 minutes. They are certainly an interesting beast to take apart; ask plenty of questions before you start taking the cowboy approach as there are several good tips & tricks to make the whole process easier. As long as the cylinder is good my opinion is that you made a decent buy assuming it's in good aesthetic condition. You can rebuild it for keeps and have a good priced saw. If you want to flip it you can probably still have a little meat left on the bone, and as mentioned above you could part it out & do pretty good. If you end up rebuilding it and need parts shoot me a PM. One last thing; if you do a simply muffler mod it will really wake the saw up as well.
